1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to bipods and monopods for use with rifles and other weapons, and more specifically to the supports at the end of the bipod legs that are in contact with the surface providing support for the weapon.
2. General Background of the Invention
Bipod supports have long been used in connection with the rifles and other weapons, hereinafter referred to collectively as rifles. Such devices are generally clamped or bolted to the weapon's barrel or connected to a picatinny rail. The legs for such bipods can be either fixed in position to support the weapon or, as is more commonly the case, are spring-loaded and retractable to allow the legs to be extended to the desired length to support a rifle at the desired elevation and swiftly and securely retracted for movement from location to location. Such a spring-loaded leg typically comprises an internal spring that extends from the upper portion of the leg, near where the bipod assembly attaches to the weapon, to the lower portion of the leg, at a point close to the end of the leg that is in contact with the surface supporting the weapon.
The internal spring is typically connected to the lower portion of the leg using a pin that has a diameter of one-eighth of an inch that extends through the leg and protrudes on both sides of the leg. To prevent this pin from snagging on the user's clothing or other objects, bipod manufacturers typically place this pin close enough to the end of the leg that the rubber boot on the end of the leg extends far enough up the leg to cover the ends of the pin, which also has the effect of holding the rubber boot in place. This rubber boot also typically provides the sole point of contact between the leg and the supporting surface.
This, however, creates numerous problems that result in decreased accuracy from the weapon when using such typical rubber boots. If the boots are rounded, a similar amount of contact is provided throughout the normal range that the weapon may be pivoted, but the contact surface is generally less than sufficient to effectively “load up” the weapon on a hard surface, resulting in the weapon hopping after a shot. (Loading up involves the shooter leaning forward with his shoulder against the weapon's stock to increase the pressure on the bipod to keep the weapon in place.) This results in the shooter having to reset after each shot. Such rounded over rubber boots also pose a problem on soft ground because the act of loading up the weapon will tend to drive the ends of the legs into the ground.
Other known designs use disk- or claw-shaped feet, ostensibly to provide greater contact with the ground. Since these known designs do not have the capability to pivot, the advantage of having an ostensibly larger contact area is lost unless the weapon is being used on perfectly flat ground at an elevation parallel to the ground. Thus, if the shooter has to tilt the weapon relative to the ground, a portion of the feet are lifted off of the ground, thereby reducing the amount of contact the feet have with the supporting surface.
Yet another problem with known bipod designs is that the feet are not removable. This results in users needing to carry multiple bipods for different surfaces to ensure that they have a bipod that will provide them with the accuracy they need under different circumstances—a luxury that many shooters, especially those in military and police swift response units, simply do not have. Alternatively, a user could carry a single bipod with generic feet, such as the rounded rubber boots described above, that allows the bipod to be use in a variety of conditions but at a less than optimal level of accuracy.